Heroes goes out with a “huh … “

“So … um … Claire … what do you think? She’s like a, what, 7? 7.5? I know, she’s a teenager or whatever, but come on, do you think she’s hot?”

Chapter 12

“An Invisible Thread”

Recap

Wow. Just wow. Tonight’s finale definitely kept me at the edge of my seat, and, even though I suspect some folks will be crying “cop out,” I found myself pretty satisfied. Sure my predictions were so far off base that I don’t even think they qualify as fan fiction, but I’m happy with the direction the story took. I’ll save my specific thoughts for after the jump, but suffice to say I think Heroes served up a finale that brought several storylines to a successful close while leaving enough open to make for an intriguing new volume to come.

Let’s discuss.

Outside Arlington, VA

So remember last week when I said “HRG, Claire and Angela are pulled over as Angela naps in the backseat. They are presumably captured”? Well, that’s not necessarily the case. HRG spotted some construction workers and pulled over. Angela woke up from a dream and she’s worried about Nathan. HRG pulls over before the roadblock and tells them to get out. They’ll head to the city while he buys them some time. He presses on to the roadblock and is captured by the agents.

Nathan’s office, Washington D.C.

After Sylar pulls the shiv out of his brain, he explains to Sitwell (or Danko, to all the n00bs) that given his shapeshifting ability, he moved that magic “off switch” in the back of his head to somewhere else in his body. But he doesn’t kill Sitwell. Instead, he shapeshifts into our hairless friend and shoots two of the agents, framing him. Then he turns back into Agent Taub and hands Sitwell over to the ski masks. Diabolical!

The Capitol, Washington D.C.

Claire is having a huffy about HRG always putting himself in the middle of everything. Angela shuts that down right quick by explaining how he does it for Claire and any parent would go to great lengths for their child. (We learn later on this was great foreshadowing and not the usual ham-fisted sort this show regularly doles out.) Then Angela peaces out to find Matt Parkman; he saves Nathan’s life in her dream.

Back in Nathan’s office, Sylar is trying to get Nathan to wake up so he can absorb all his memories. (Which is strange since things like slacks and cuff links don’t have consciousnesses, so why does Nathan have to be awake? I guess the rules could be different for humans, but dang, does this show have an addiction to over-complicating things?) An assistant lets herself in all confused about Nathan’s supposed daughter randomly showing up. Sure! Send her in!

Ando and Hiro spy Sitwell being brought in by the agents. Ando’s afraid that Hiro’s body can’t handle squishyfacing anymore. Hiro, reckless and ill-formed as usual, vows to take whatever chance he must. Because Hiro is a moron.

The ski masks toss Sitwell into a cell and who should wander out from the shadows but HRG! Hey, broseph, how’s it going?

Nathan’s office, Washington D.C.

Nathan’s rolling around groggy on the floor as Peter arrives. Hey, broseph!

Building 26, Washington D.C.

Sitwell is waiting for a big ol’ I told you so from HRG, but Noah’s more concerned with stopping Sylar. Well, almost. He takes some time to explain that if it wasn’t for his daughter, he’d be just like Sitwell (though, presumably, with more hair). Then he extends an olive branch. Before they can shake on it, they freeze. It’s Hiro and Ando! They’ve squishyfaced the entire staff. And it didn’t kill Hiro! But it did give him an ear-bleed. They find the drugged up heroes and unhook them from the drug drips. Then they get the honestly brilliant idea to put the rest of the staff on the gurneys with the drug drips in their place while they’re frozen, which is, I must admit, very smart. When Hiro squishyfaces again, he has a headache. Is there a doctor in the house? Oh wait, hi Suresh! He explains that Hiro’s human body is rejecting his superhuman abilities. Like a virus. (Oh gosh, haven’t we gone down that road? And wasn’t the virus volume the weakest season of Heroes yet? And the one that turned most fans off? DO NOT DO THE VIRUS THING AGAIN. PLEASE.)

Stanton Hotel, Washington D.C.

SAN and Claire are going to go chill up in the penthouse suite and wait for the President to be done pre-empting Lost giving a speech. The President’s Chief of Staff meets them and leads them over to the sign-in. Well, Dad, that’s strange that you’re signing with your left hand; you’re a righty. Huh. How ’bout that …

Building 26, Washington D.C.

Sitwell and HRG are, for some reason, not doing the sensible thing AND GETTING THE HECK OUT OF THERE. Instead, they’re snooping around, checking their Facebook, playing a little Minesweeper, you know, the usual. Then Sitwell pulls out some big ol’ syringes of tranquilizers which he explains should put Sylar down, no problem. Good plan, chum! And then HRG turns his back for one second ad Sitwell goes in for the tranquilizer stabby. SQUISHYFACE. Hiro nabs the syringe and sticks Sylar. Then he gets all woozy like and passes out with a bloody nose.

Stanton Hotel, Washington D.C.

Claire’s celly is blowing up and it’s HRG. She assures him she’s with Nathan, but as the camera pans back it’s clear that it’s Sylar-As-Claire! Then he shapeshifts back into Sylar just to let HRG know that he’s got Claire. (How awesome was that shot of HRG when he first hears Sylar’s voice? Awesome.) Then Sylar does some weird puppetmaster stuff using his telekinesis to make Claire pour him a glass of pinot (yum!). They have a great tête à tête in which Sylar tells Claire that they have so much in common, being immortal and all, and some day she’ll get tired of trying to kill him and maybe even fall in love with him. She swears she will try to kill him forever. It was one of those great superhero scenes with the “You’ll never get away with this!” type feel.

Downstairs, the Petrelli brothers show up. Security is a little confused as to why there are two Nathans there. Time for Nathan to come clean. About everything. He even hovers a little bit to show his power. And he says Sylar is “one of us” as opposed to “one of them.” Good for him. It’s time for him to fix this mess, or, as Peter says, “course correct” (which I hope was an intentional HA HA about how bad they are at time travel in general OR that they are course correcting this series and all its blunders). Up they go!

When they get to the door, Sylar flings Claire into the hallway. The Petrelli boys torpedo in but! then! The doors close behind them and we miss the EPIC BATTLE SCENE. TOTALLY LAME. When the doors open and Claire makes her way in, Peter says Nathan and Sylar headed out the window. So they head downstairs to find them? Of course, after they leave, Sylar and Nathan fly back in through the window. (Well, technically, Nathan crashes through the window, but Sylar flies in.) Here’s my problem, how is Sylar flying? He hasn’t cut open Nathan’s brains and yet he has his power? Weird. I know he demonstrated empathic mimicry when he tool Elle’s lightning power once before, but he hasn’t demonstrated that power again since. But I digress … When Nathan gets to his feet, Sylar mind-slices him across his neck! YIKES! Fin, Nathan. Sylar assumes Nathan shape and walks out.

Washington D.C.

Parkman gets off his bus and Angela’s waiting for him. She needs him to come help her, but he needs to go make sure the agents will stop coming after special people … well, good thing those two goals are related. Parkman is convinced.

Stanton Hotel, Washington D.C.

Peter and Claire run into HRG, but the President’s guards are close behind. Claire puts herself in the middle of things and tells the guards she can either explain now, or she can explain after they shoot her. Well played, Claire.

Parkman and Angela are rushing to the suite where the big showdown went down. They get inside and find Nathan’s body. Angela has a TOTAL FREAKOUT, and I must say, damn Cristine Rose is the best actress on this show. (You pay her whatever she wants, NBC, you hear me? She’s the best thing you have here.) Angela doesn’t understand why her dream was wrong.

The Secret Service are leading the President out through the basement. Sylar manages to knock-off the Chief of Staff and assume his shape. They all head into the garage where Sylar-As-Chief-Of-Staff (SACOS) gets in the car with President Obama Generic Black President, all ready to shake his hand and get all his secret histories. SACOS reaches out, but when he grabs the Pres.’s hand, he starts going all shapeshifty crazy. What? Then the President jabs him in the neck with the tranq syringe and shapeshifts back into Peter. Well played, Peter.

In the suite, Parkman, HRG and Angela are bickering over Sylar’s body. HRG and Angela are trying to convince Parkman that the only way they can be safe is if Nathan can convince the President. They need him to use his mind mojo to “kill” the memory of Sylar and make him truly believe he is Nathan Petrelli. He’ll have his form and all his memories. They’ll use the original shapeshifter body that’s stuck as Sylar as a decoy. And it works! …

Coyote Sands

Claire, Suresh, Hiro, Ando, Parkman, “Nathan,” Peter, Angela, HRG and Claire build “Sylar” a funeral pyre. Nathan tells them the President is on board with the New Company. And so it’s official.

Hiro gets another headache and decides to stay with the doctor who’s right next to him and specializes in people with abilities go back to Japan.

Claire hugs HRG close and remarks, “I can’t believe he’s really dead.” “He’s really dead, Claire. He really is.” Then he shoots a knowing glance at Parkman, who turns away and leaves. And off goes Suresh, leaving only the Petrellis surrounding the fire.

END VOLUME FOUR

Volume Five

“Redemption”

Six weeks after the body-burning party, Kent Harper (a former ski mask agent) comes home and find his sink overflowing. Oh no, it’s the Wet Bandits! But out of the puddle, a female shape arises and then solidifies into, duh, Tracy. She just says “You’re number four,” and cut to “Nathan” reading a newspaper article about the fourth mysterious drowning. Angela shows up at his office and is ready for them to go get lunch. But Nathan is distracted by something … that clock, over there. It’s 1.5 minutes fast …

DUN DUN DUNNNNN!

So that’s it. What did you think? I have a feeling some people might think it was cheap to only “kill” Nathan and then have him stick around as a permanent Sylar shapeshift, but it’s just such a comic book thing to do that I almost give them credit for doing it on a live action, primetime show. (In fact, in the analysis, I’ll give you some background on just how common that sort of thing is in some comics.)

I think the next volume will certainly be interesting. I’m really excited to see all the heroes connected to the New Company and working toward a common goal, or at least some of them. It will save a lot of WE HAVE TO GET EVERYONE TOGETHER TO STOP THIS IMPENDING DISASTER! time. I think “Nathan’s” obvious undoing will be a nice source of drama, acting as a slow unravel that eventually forces Angela, HRG and Parkman to come clean to the others and possibly drive a wedge into the New Company. It’s also nice to see Tracy take up the villain role, because, while I love Sylar, it’s time to give him a break for a little while. Plus it’s nice to see a villain who’s bad, but not all-powerful. After all, the X-Men didn’t just fight Magneto every day.

I’m a little uncertain as to Sitwell’s fate for next season. Will he be the rookie in the company, trying to balance his hot-headed nature while learning the ropes? And I really hope they don’t turn Hiro’s virus into a big deal, because boy oh boy, I do not want anything to do with that. Heroes already did the virus thing. And I hate Hiro.

You know what’s bothering me? What a total and complete waste Suresh was this season. I don’t think he contributed one thing that couldn’t have been accomplished without him in the picture. I’m still (stubbornly) holding out hope that there’s something on that film reel of his and there’ll be some payoff next volume.

What were your thoughts about the finale? Share them in the comments and I’ll see you in the analysis.

Hi Bobby, I, too, was reminded of the Wet Bandits! And now Sylar’s gone Dollhouse, sort of.I thought the finale was solid and exciting, and the lead-in to Volume 5 intriguing. There were a few weak points. If I understood, the rationale for keeping Nathan “alive” had to do with avoiding the scandal of a Senator being killed by a person with special abilities – but what about the President’s Chief of Staff? And, how did Peter insinuate himself into the President’s entourage? “Hello, I’m one of the special people menacing the world. Can I play President for a bit?” Still – I enjoyed this finale.And … another blogger fails to give love to Michael Dorn, the Klingon-in-Chief. Hmm, apparently he and Bryan Fuller crossed paths back on Deep Space Nine. Maybe we’ll see more Worf next season (if there is one).

I enjoyed it and like you I too am baffled about the complete and total waste Mohinder (my & T’s boyfriend, back before she abandoned us) has been this season. And just what is his power anyway?

So who’s out of a job here? Zack Quinto or Adrian Pasdar? Is he still married to the dixie chic? And where’s Molly? Is Matt gonna pick her up on the way back to Cali to be with the woman who thought he was crazy and sleeping with his co-worker? She said they had a lot to talk about. What do you have to talk about cheater? I’ve been saving the world, what the hell have you been doing? And where’s the weird teenager Sylar befriended? Is he coming back?

Sheldon, there is no way the characters on this show could ever keep track of their own powers. Healing Nathan? Been there, done that. Can’t do it again.

I was actually confused the first time I watched it because Sylar’s body moved from the limo to the location of Nathan’s body without any exposition. It was like that darn shell game… where’s the real Sylar again?

I think it’s a wee bit of a cop-out because they killed a character and not an actor. Given Quinto’s star power on the rise, we may be getting weaned off of him by having Adrian Pasdar play him ‘most’ of the time. I don’t know.

I don’t think Claire’s blood can resurrect the dead. Nathan Petrelli was quite dead by the time they got to him.

And that throat-slashing thing was the most repulsive scene I’ve ever seen on network TV. It ruined the whole hour for me.

I also can’t buy for one second that they let Sylar live, let alone had him walk around as a living-zombie version of the very same man that he murdered. If there was any emotion logic at all, Angela and HRG would have beheaded Sylar and then burnt his body. Nathan’s death could have been explained some other way. HRG talked as if it would be unavoidable that they would have to tell what really happened.

JB, that’s a solid point. I long for the day when these People with Abilities can just walk out in the open. Three seasons in and we’re still stuck in secrecy mode? Blow the doors off and unleash the story! I want a front-page breaking news alert!

If Peter took Sylar’s shapeshifting ability to become the President, why didn’t they OFF Sylar and have Peter temporarily pose as Nathan to convince the President?

I agree that Nathan’s death could’ve then been explained (or better yet, explained to the “Heroes” first and to the public later).

Either way, I loved having more villains around; but Sylar’s sucked that all up. Time to consolidate sides and start “having it out.” Also, I want to see Ando shoot Hiro (although it was probably an intentionally misdirected foreshadowing).

I think the death of nathan can be explained by the fact that he bled out. No blood to mix with Claires? HRG was shot dead – instant kill. Perhaps that’s the difference. It still would have been an idea to try!

I am intrigued to see where the story will go with Fuller in control full time.

The throat slashing was a very shocking scene. Kinda like the dishwasher of death on Lost. I guess everybody knows that Quinto is Spock in the new Star Trek movie by JJ Abrams. So yeah, his star is rising.

They’re keeping Sylar around because Zachary Quinto’s about to become a big star once the new Star Trek opens. However, doing that means that their story choices make no sense.

One of the things I despise about the Sylar character is that he gets away with everything. Sylar has a mountain of dead bodies, innocent people he has slaughtered, piled up behind him. But there’s never any payback. He’s never punished, and he never suffers. The character itself becomes a sadistic thrill for certain types of viewers I wouldn’t want to sit next to at a bus station.

If I were in charge, I would contrive some storyline in which everything Sylar’s done gets undone before his very eyes. I mean everything — his victims are all resurrected (maybe a time paradox), he’s emptied out of all his abilities, he’s reduced to an agonzied shell, then sent off to prison where he all he does all day is repair watches.

I agree With Jack B. this could all be done using some of “DC Comics Time Crisis” story line in which hey meet themselves from alternate universe and everything fixes it’s way out. It reconstructs some time lines while eliminating others. To due this would be a hassle but might be interesting if done right.

I am disappointed. VERY disappointed. There is absolutely no logic to resurrecting Nathan via a brain-washed Sylar, when all they needed to do was drip a little Claire or Peter life-giving-blood-elixir into his neck like they did when he got shot DEAD before. Don’t tell me no blood left. That is so bogus. Talk about convoluted nonsense and the preview CLEARLY show it doesn’t work. Why not let Peter absorb his brain-sucking talent; then lobotomize him leaving him a drooling shell? Or why not have Parkman brain-wash his whole personality into the Mr Mom critter we saw last season (or was it the one before)?

And it really bothered me that they apparently gave the chirf of staff up as a sacrificial lamb. They had to know Sylar would kill him. Did they give him any choice? Was he a hero or just a chump in the wrong place at the wrong time?

I don’t agree, I think Hiro is brilliant. The problem was that has the stories became lame so did the characters. Everyone loved Hiro in the 1st volume, because that volume was the best. Plus he had one of the best powers. Like some of you, I do like a villian, but only becuase I know they’re gonna get thier karma. So why the hell is Sylar getting away with all this slaughter of innocent people with abilities? Didn’t like the way they killed off Nathan, and why didn’t they use Claire’s blood to save him. I hope in the next volume they kill off Sylar and form a secret superhero team. Not a big fan of Ando and Mohinder. Mohinder’s character had promise in the 1st volume, but unfortunately has wimped out. Finally I think the next series should feature Peter in a more leadership role. Out of all the heroes only Peter had the power, and in some ways, more power to take on Sylar. PETER HAS A DESTINY.

I don’t agree with the karma thing. In real life, almost nobody gets what they deserve, and Sylar is powerful enough to get away with whatever he wants.

That’s my opinion, but I think that a story, to be realistic, can’t be fair. At least not about everything. In real life, Sylar would be president, is already a miracle they managed to stop him three times.

The resurrection thing got me by surprise too, but I don’t think it is unexplained, it could be for a lot of reasons: first of all, where do you find the equipment to do the transfusion? In volume 2 the company did it, almost immediatly after HRG’s death, so it was more plausible (a dead body, after very little time, becomes nothing more than a lump of beef rotting). I think they needed a Nathan ASAP, and they had no chance to do the transfusion without the proper equipment, which couldn’t be obtained until after Nathan spoke to the president (and you obviously can’t go to a hospital and ask to transfuse a girl’s body into a dead man…).

To make it short, I think it was a “bleeded-out” and a time issue, explainable without jumping through hoops.

Mohinder was of little impact in this volume, but he had his prime time in the previous one. I don’t think they can always give the same relevance to every actor. It’s a shame because I like him.

And wait a second? What’s this “alternative timeline-infinite crisis-DC-marvel” thing? I personally read those comic books, but they have a whole different prespective, and they have 50 years of continuity to mess things up and make it difficult to come up with ideas without destroying the universeS every time. If heroes did that, it would lose his human atmosphere. I gotta tell you: I keep reading superheroes comic books for affection and the rare good stories they give, but they reset reality and change universe a little too often to be believable. I appreciate heroes not doing that.